Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 3 21G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
If and , then because is bounded and linear. Therefore , proving weak continuity of .
For a bounded sequence in , extract successive subsequences on which the first, second, and subsequent coordinates converge, then take a diagonal subsequence. Call the coordinate limits . Every finite partial sum satisfies , so and . For any , the pairing on its first coordinates converges, while the pairing on the tail is bounded uniformly by . First choose large, then take the subsequence limit. The Riesz representation theorem identifies these pairings with every continuous linear functional, proving the requested weak convergence.
For , norm convergence implies weak convergence immediately. Conversely, suppose but a subsequence has . Coordinate convergence to zero allows us to select indices and cutoffs such that the mass of before or at is below , and its mass after is below . Its mass on the intervening block is then at least . On that block set when nonzero and zero otherwise. These prescriptions define . The bounded linear functional has real part at least on every selected , contradicting weak convergence. Translating by the limit proves weak and norm convergence of sequences coincide in , the Schur property.
A compact operator sends bounded sets to relatively norm-compact sets. Every bounded sequence in has a weakly convergent subsequence by the argument above, after scaling into the unit ball. Its image under converges weakly and therefore in norm by the Schur property. Sequential compactness in a metric space gives relative compactness of the image of the unit ball. Every bounded linear operator from to is compact.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 6 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
False. Take the separable Banach space , whose continuous dual space is . We prove that first countability of the weak unit ball would force this dual to be norm separable, producing a contradiction.
Suppose that had a countable weak neighbourhood base at zero. Inside each , choose a basic relative weak neighbourhood specified by finitely many continuous linear functionals . The union is countable. For any and , some lies in . On the vector subspacethis implies , by scaling vectors into . The Hahn-Banach theorem extends to with . The functional vanishes on and is therefore a linear combination of : it factors through the finite-dimensional coordinate map , and a linear functional on that map's image extends to the finite-dimensional coordinate space. HenceEvery thus belongs to the norm closure of . Taking rational coefficients, or rational real and imaginary parts, gives a countable norm-dense subset of . This proves that weak-ball metrizability requires a norm-separable dual.
For , every bounded sequence defines with . Conversely, the values of any bounded linear functional determine such a sequence and recover by density of finitely supported vectors. Thus . The uncountable family in has distance one between distinct members, so this dual is not norm separable: disjoint balls of radius less than would require distinct members of any countable dense set. Since every metrizable space is first countable, the weak unit ball of is not metrizable.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 6 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
True. In the norm topology on the unit ball, the set is a neighbourhood of zero. If the relative weak topology agrees with it, there are finitely many continuous linear functionals and positive such thatIf contained a nonzero vector, rescaling it to have norm would put it in the left-hand set but not the right-hand set. Therefore . The linear mapis injective into a finite-dimensional scalar space, soThis proof works for either the open or closed unit-ball convention and does not require completeness.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 39 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
A map is Hadamard differentiable at if there is a continuous linear functional such that, whenever with , in , and ,For tangential Hadamard differentiability, the limit directions are restricted to a specified tangent subspace and the derivative is continuous linear on that subspace. The domain condition is indispensable.
Assume almost surely and use the usual measurable, separably supported setting for norm-valued convergence in distribution, with the limit in the tangent space. The functional delta method givesTo justify this by Skorokhod representation theorem, a sufficient precise version is: for weakly convergent random elements in a separable complete metric space, one can construct copies of the whole sequence and its limit on one probability space which converge almost surely in the metric. More generally the separable-limit-support version of the representation theorem can be used. Apply it to , obtaining almost surely. The variables have the same laws as and lie in on a common probability-one event. The definition of Hadamard differentiability, with , gives convergence almost surely of the transformed quotients to , and hence the claimed convergence in distribution. If is a Gaussian measure, the limit is Gaussian because the derivative is linear. Without membership of in , the expression in the question is not defined.
The final function space is with supremum norm; it is not separable as a whole. This does not affect the deterministic differentiability proof below. Any statistical application of the preceding representation argument must use its separability or tightness hypotheses, rather than assuming that every normed space automatically satisfies them.
Fix admissible and set . The candidate derivative, defined even for continuous directions without derivatives, isThis follows formally from the product rule and integration by parts. We now establish the uniform-direction limit required by Hadamard differentiability.
Let and belong to the stated domain, with , in supremum norm. The domain gives and , while uniformly. We first claim that, for every continuous on ,For a continuously differentiable test function , integration by parts gives convergence directly from uniform convergence of : both boundary terms and converge. By the Weierstrass approximation theorem, approximate uniformly on by a polynomial . The difference between the two integrals introduced by this approximation is at most , by the uniform bounded variation bounds. Letting the approximation error decrease proves the claim. This is weak convergence of bounded-variation integrators.
Now decompose the quotient in the order that retains the bounded-variation bound:The first term differs from by at most , so it tends to . For the second term, integration by parts yieldswhich tends to the corresponding expression with . Hence the quotient tends to for every admissible perturbation sequence. Finally,This proves that the derivative is a continuous linear functional on the product space. Therefore is Hadamard differentiable at every point of the stated domain. The bounded-variation restriction is what controls the apparently dangerous interaction between uniformly small perturbations and possibly large perturbation derivatives; no convergence of or has been assumed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 60 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The space of test functions is : its elements are smooth functions with compact support. For a fixed compact set , put and use the seminorms . The space of test functions carries the usual test-function inductive limit topology of these spaces. In particular, a sequence converges precisely when its supports eventually lie in one compact set and every derivative converges uniformly. Thus means that a common contains their supports and for every .
A distribution is a continuous linear functional on this space of test functions, and denotes their space. We use complex-linear, bilinear pairings . Equivalently, for every compact set there are and a nonnegative integer such thatThe usual weak convergence of distributions is if for every test function. This specifies the convergence used below; it does not require convergence in any norm.
The distributional derivative is defined byThe derivative map sends continuously to itself, with . The preceding continuity estimate therefore proves that is again a distribution. This definition extends the ordinary derivative of a smooth function, by integration by parts.
Choose the translation of a distribution convention . Its action on a test function isFor fixed , the translated test functions have translated compact support and unchanged derivative sup norms, so this defines a distribution. For the differentiability of distribution translations, apply the Taylor theorem in integral form:All supports lie in one slightly enlarged compact set for , and the same identity for every derivative proves uniform convergence. The continuity of now givesThe minus sign in the translation parameter is necessary for this convention.
For (a), choose a test function with . If , then is a test function, since the zero integral makes it vanish beyond both ends of the compact support. If , then . Decompose to obtainConversely, these constant regular distributions have zero distributional derivative. This also proves the general fact that a distribution with zero derivative is constant.
For (b), choose a cutoff function equal to one near zero. Every test function decomposes asThe quotient extends as a smooth function at zero, and it has compact support. If , the definition of multiplication of a distribution by a smooth function gives . Conversely, . Thus the kernel of multiplication by a coordinate is exactlyIn particular, derivatives of the Dirac delta distribution are not additional solutions: .
Now write and , where . The characteristic roots of a constant-coefficient differential equation are the distinct roots of a polynomial of , with multiplicities . The distributional regularity of a constant-coefficient ordinary differential equation can be proved without assuming regularity in advance. Put and . Since the are coprime polynomials, polynomial division and Bezout identity give polynomials such thatFor example, invert modulo , sum the resulting expressions, and absorb a remaining multiple of into one coefficient. For , the kernel decomposition for coprime polynomials therefore givesThe Leibniz rule for multiplication of a distribution by a smooth function implies . Repeatedly using a distribution with zero derivative is constant shows that a distribution with th derivative zero is a polynomial of degree at most : subtract the polynomial primitive of its constant st derivative, and induct on . Consequently the most general exponential polynomial solution of a constant-coefficient differential equation isEvery displayed term is annihilated by , so all coefficients are allowed. For the linear independence of these functions, on a relation, apply ; on times a polynomial of degree less than , each remaining factor acts invertibly on that polynomial space. Hence the th polynomial must vanish. Every distributional solution is an analytic function, and in particular a classical solution. For real coefficients and real-valued distributions, take complex conjugate coefficients at conjugate characteristic roots of a constant-coefficient differential equation, or equivalently use the corresponding real sine and cosine forms.
For the last equation, the operator is : the coordinate multiplies the result of differentiation. The kernel of multiplication by a coordinate says precisely thatChoose the retarded fundamental solution of a constant-coefficient ordinary differential operator , where is the Heaviside function and is the analytic solution of withSuch exists uniquely by the elementary initial value problem for a constant-coefficient ordinary differential equation; alternatively the residue construction in the next solution gives it explicitly. The distributional jump formula for a Heaviside product isIt follows by induction from , using integration by parts. With the chosen initial derivatives, every lower-order jump term vanishes and the leading coefficient gives . Subtracting reduces the last equation to the homogeneous one. Thus the coordinate-degenerate constant-coefficient differential equation has exactly the solutionsThere are independent constants. For , derivatives through order match at zero, while the derivative of order may jump; for , the function itself may jump. An arbitrary distribution concentrated at zero cannot be added, because its image under the nonzero leading derivative would contain a nonvanishing highest derivative of the Dirac delta distribution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 6 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the Hausdorff convention for a locally convex space: a real vector space is equipped with a separating family of seminorms. Thus each is nonnegative, subadditive and satisfies , and for every some has . The topology has a neighborhood basis at consisting ofEquivalently, it is the coarsest vector-space topology making all these seminorms continuous. The separating condition is precisely what makes this topology Hausdorff. If the Hausdorff requirement were omitted, continuous linear functionals could not distinguish points in the common kernel of the seminorms.
The continuous dual space consists of all continuous linear functionals . We first prove the needed Hahn-Banach theorem. Let be a real-valued sublinear function on , meaning and for , and let be linear on a vector subspace , with . To extend across , writeThe necessary bounds on areThey are compatible becauseTaking one variable equal to zero also shows that are finite. Choose . The upper bound proves domination when , after dividing by ; the lower bound proves it when , after dividing by . Thus on . This is the one-dimensional dominated extension of a real linear functional.
Order all dominated extensions of by extension of their domains. A chain has an upper bound obtained by taking the union of the domains and linear functionals. Zorn's lemma gives a maximal extension, and the one-dimensional construction shows that its domain must be all of . We have therefore proved the real dominated-extension theorem. In particular, when is a seminorm, domination at both and gives .
For , choose a continuous seminorm with , and define on its one-dimensional span. Then . Extend by the theorem just proved to with . This bound makes continuous, and . Applying this to the difference of two distinct points proves that separates the points of , the continuous-dual separation theorem for Hausdorff locally convex spaces.
For separation from a closed linear subspace, choose a basic balanced neighborhood of zero such that . WriteThen for every . On , define , which is well-defined since . For ,for the inequality is immediate. The proved extension theorem gives a continuous dominated by , withThis proves separation of a point from a closed linear subspace without using any unproved Hahn-Banach extension or separation result.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 6 2 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Suppose the weak-star closure of were a proper linear vector subspace of . The Hahn-Banach separation theorem would give a nonzero weak-star continuous linear functional vanishing on it. A continuous dual of a weak-star topology consists precisely of evaluations at points of : continuity bounds the linear functional by finitely many evaluations, so it factors through their finite-dimensional coordinate map and is a linear combination of them. Thus some would satisfy for all . The norming inequality would imply , a contradiction. Every norming subspace of is weak-star dense.
For the infinite-codimension example, takeHere is the absolutely summable sequence space and is the space of sequences converging to zero, a norm-closed vector subspace of . The dual identification is : a bounded sequence defines a linear functional of norm , and every linear functional on has this form by evaluating on the coordinate vectors and using density of finitely supported sequences.
For , use the finitely supported sequence whose first entries are and whose remaining entries vanish. It belongs to , has norm at most one, andThe reverse inequality follows from . Hence is 1-norming for , an instance of vanishing sequences norm the summable sequence space.
To prove infinite codimension, take disjoint infinite setsTheir indicator sequences have linearly independent classes in . Indeed, a finite combination has the constant value on ; if it tends to zero, every must vanish. Thus the quotient is infinite-dimensional.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 67 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use complex-linear distribution pairings, without conjugation. Write for the space of test functions. The smoothing convolution with a test function isOn a compact set of values, all the translated test functions have support in one compact set. Continuity of the distribution therefore permits differentiation in , giving for every multi-index. In particular this convolution is a smooth function, even if is not tempered.
For the first associativity identity, integration against and the distribution pairing can be interchanged: the integrand has a common compact support in , depends smoothly on the integration variable, and satisfies the finite-order continuity estimate there. ConsequentlyThe common-support argument matters: a general distribution cannot be paired with arbitrary noncompact functions.
For convolution of distributions with a compactly supported factor, first take with compact support and defineThe inner pairing is interpreted using a cutoff function equal to one near . It is smooth in and has support in . To see continuity, restrict to a fixed compact support . The order of a distribution estimate for controls derivatives of the inner function by finitely many derivatives of , and its support lies in the fixed compact set . Applying the corresponding estimate for givesThus is a distribution, not merely a formal iterated pairing.
Choose an additional cutoff function in equal to one on a neighborhood of . The resulting joint kernel is compactly supported in both variables, so the tensor product of distributions permits reversing the pairings. One justification is to approximate that smooth compact kernel, in all the required derivative seminorms, by finite sums of products of one-variable kernels; the two orders agree on such products and their continuity estimates pass to the limit. Reversing consequently gives . If rather than has compact support, use the same construction with the roles reversed; pairing against a smooth function is then legitimate.
Evaluating the resulting smoothing convolution with a test function givesIf has compact support, is itself a test function; if has compact support, its action on the smooth inner convolution uses a cutoff. This explains the meaning of the formula in either case. It also proves uniqueness: , and reflection runs through all test functions. When both factors have compact support, the same definition gives , their Minkowski sum.
The Schwartz space consists of smooth functions for which every seminorm is finite. A tempered distribution is a continuous linear functional on this space. Fix the angular-frequency Fourier transform conventionThe Fourier transform isomorphism of the Schwartz space makes the dual definition continuous. For a compactly supported distribution, a fixed cutoff function near its support extends the action to smooth functions by . A finite-order estimate controls this by finitely many Schwartz space seminorms, so both compactly supported factors are tempered.
Their Fourier transform of a compactly supported distribution is the smooth function . Applying the compact-support convolution definition to the exponential givesThe convolution theorem has no extra factor with this normalization.
For the spherical surface measure convolution, put . Rotate the polar axis to the direction of ; rotational invariance of surface area givesAt the removable value is , the total sphere area. Hence .
For , angular integration in Fourier inversion now givesThis conditional integral can be made rigorous by first inserting and then taking in tempered distributions. The supplied sine identity gives an integral of when , and zero off that interval. Thusas a regular distribution. To justify the limiting density as well as the signs, expand the product of sines into four sine terms and use . The four arctangents are uniformly bounded; the regularized inverse is bounded by a constant times , which is a locally integrable function in three dimensions. Dominated convergence theorem therefore identifies the distributional limit with the displayed density.
Changing the two endpoint sphere values does not change the regular distribution; this includes the source's closed-interval representative. At a jump, symmetric Fourier inversion instead takes the half-value. If , the singularity at the origin remains locally integrable and is not a point mass. As a normalization check,exactly the product of the original sphere areas.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 205 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A real positive-definite kernel is a symmetric function such that, for every finite collection and every ,Thus every kernel matrix is a positive semidefinite matrix; “positive definite” here does not require strict positivity. A Reproducing kernel Hilbert space is a Hilbert space of functions on in which every point evaluation is a continuous linear functional. Its reproducing property is with , and . For a sum of positive-definite kernels, the quadratic form of its kernel matrix is a sum of nonnegative quadratic forms. Symmetry also survives summation. Consequently
For the representer theorem, put . This is a closed finite-dimensional vector space. The orthogonal decomposition by a closed subspace gives , where and . The reproducing property implies for every observed input, and thereforeSince , any minimizer must lie in . For , the reproducing property gives the evaluation vector and . Hence . If minimizes , its representation yields a minimizing . Conversely, if minimizes , then, for any , representing gives . ThusThis is an equivalence of minimizers, not an existence or uniqueness assertion: the loss function is arbitrary. A singular kernel matrix also allows nonunique coefficients, since differences in represent the zero function. Strict convexity of the loss was not used.
Now use the stated minimum-norm description of a sum of reproducing-kernel Hilbert spaces. Let . If the minimizing tuple did not attain the minimum total squared norm among decompositions of , replacing it by that unique minimum-norm tuple would preserve the loss function and strictly lower the penalty. This contradicts optimality. ThereforeFor an arbitrary , take its minimum-norm decomposition . Then , proving that minimizes .
Choose from the representer theorem for this minimizing sum, and define . Write for the component kernel matrices. ThenBy uniqueness of the minimum-norm decomposition, for every . This proves the common representer coefficients for a sum of kernels conclusion:The same coefficient vector works simultaneously. Even when is singular, changing that vector by leaves every component unchanged: forces each nonnegative squared component norm to vanish.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 22F d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be conjugate to , so , including for . Hölder's inequality implies, for every measurable finite-measure set ,This proves integrability on and gives uniform integrability there. Choose a set with on which convergence is uniform, using Egorov theorem. ThenFirst take and then . Thus even the local difference tends to zero, and in particularFor , simple functions supported on finite-measure Borel sets are dense in . The displayed convergence proves pairing convergence for such functions. Approximate any by a simple and useBy the duality of Lp spaces, these are all continuous linear functionals on , so converges weakly to . It need not converge strongly: converges pointwise to zero but has norm one. For the pairing argument gives weak-star convergence against , rather than asserting weak convergence against every functional in the much larger full dual.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 105 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Lax-Milgram theorem assumes that is a real Hilbert space and is a bounded bilinear form and a coercive bilinear form: there are such thatThen for every continuous linear functional there is a unique satisfyingSymmetry of is not required.
For the proof, the Riesz representation theorem provides a bounded linear operator and with and . Coercivity and the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality implyThus is injective and its range is closed: if converges, the displayed inequality makes a Cauchy sequence; completeness gives and . If lies in the orthogonal complement of the range, then for all . Taking gives , so . A closed subspace with zero orthogonal complement is all of , hence is surjective. The unique solution is , and the same inequality gives the asserted norm bound.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 105 2 b iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The positive uniform ellipticity condition from part (i) is needed here. It is not explicitly imposed in the printed preamble. Without it the conclusion is false: on , take , , and . The Neumann boundary condition is satisfied by , and for arbitrarily large shifts.
There is also an actual error in the PDF's supplied trace inequality: a nonzero constant has nonzero trace and zero gradient. Use instead the valid multiplicative trace inequality on a bounded smooth domainFor completeness, choose a smooth vector field agreeing with the outward normal vector on the boundary. The divergence theorem gives, for smooth ,Approximation and the Sobolev trace theorem extend it to . Thus the intended existence result remains true after correcting the hint.
Set , , , , andUniform ellipticity and the Young inequality giveFor , the bilinear form is coercive on the real Hilbert space with coercivity constant .
All coefficients are bounded, and the Sobolev trace theorem gives . The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality applied to each volume and boundary term therefore proves . Also is a continuous linear functional, with . Every hypothesis of the Lax-Milgram theorem is now verified, and it gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 106 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Hahn-Banach separation theorem for two convex sets states that disjoint nonempty convex sets in a real locally convex space, with open, admit a nonzero continuous linear functional and such thatThere need not be a positive uniform gap between the two sets.
For a proof, set . It is open and convex, and . Choose , let , and let be the Minkowski functional of . Because is open, convex and contains zero, is a finite sublinear functional, and . Put . Since , . On define . For this equals ; for it is nonpositive and hence at most . The Hahn-Banach theorem extends it to a linear with . Both and are bounded near zero, so this domination makes continuous; it is nonzero because . For ,Thus for every . Define , which is finite because any fixed bounds it above. Openness of and nonzeroness of ensure for every , and for every . This proves the stated separation.
For the sequence criterion, suppose and . If each , thenConversely, the assumed inequality implies that every convex combination of the has norm at least . Hence is disjoint from . Apply the separation theorem with the open set to obtain andThen has norm one and satisfies for every . ThereforeThe PDF confirms the “if and only if” that is garbled in the TeX transcription.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 326 4 1 Solution 2026-09-29
A Gaussian measure on a real separable Banach space is a Borel probability measure such that is a one-dimensional normal distribution for every continuous linear functional . Its mean and covariance operator of a Gaussian measure are characterized byandfor all .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 326 4 2 b Solution 2026-09-29
For every , the continuous linear functional induced by the inner product givesThis is a normal random variable because it is a linear combination of independent normal random variables. Hence the law of is a Gaussian measure. Its mean is zero, and independence together with givesThus its covariance operator of a Gaussian measure is
Separation from an absorbing convex set 2026-10-14
If a convex set in a real normed vector space contains , every admits a continuous linear functional with for all , even if is not closed. Its Minkowski functional is sublinear functional, satisfies , , and . Extend by the dominated Hahn-Banach theorem. The resulting domination applied to and makes continuous and supplies the separation inequalities.
If the relative weak topology on the unit ball of a normed vector space is first countable at zero, choose a countable collection of finite families of continuous linear functionals defining a local base. For any and , one family has common kernel on which . Extend that restriction to with using the Hahn-Banach theorem. Then vanishes on , so it belongs to by finite-dimensional factorization. Consequently the countable union of these families has norm-dense linear span in . The converse is the metrization of the weak topology on a bounded set construction from a norm-dense sequence in . In particular, separability of alone does not suffice: has nonseparable dual .